Is it really that difficult to implement EAI

Is it really that difficult to implement EAI

eai (Enterprise Application Integration) technology has finally spread exciting news in China. Bank of China Guangdong Branch (hereinafter referred to as "Bank of China Guangdong") took the lead in completing the EAI project in the financial field by applying the IBM WebSphere business integration (WBI) framework, which was applied in the document image system of international settlement business

eai seems to have become an increasingly unstoppable technical trend in the financial and Telecommunications fields, but its application is still in the exploratory stage. For the majority of users in China, few dare to taste the "fresh" of EAI. In the telecommunications industry, Shanxi Mobile successfully implemented the EAI project last year; In the financial field, China Construction Bank is using EAI technology to build its own information bus of IT architecture

"although EAI is difficult, it can succeed if it is done in a down-to-earth manner." Sun Zhongdong, deputy director of the science and Technology Department of the Bank of China in Guangdong, gave a slightly understated account of the difficult years and successes that have just passed

origin document image center

the head office of the Bank of China (hereinafter referred to as "the head office") has always been firmly at the top of the international settlement business market. BOC Guangdong's annual beautiful international settlement business transaction volume has contributed a lot to the head office's first market share

as the leader of the international settlement business of the head office, the business volume and demand of Bank of China Guangdong is very large. To this end, they set up a document center in 2001, which was specially responsible for handling international settlement business and officially operated on September 1 of the same year. However, due to the physical exchange of documents between the document center and the branches directly under it, to a certain extent, it restricts the Bank of China in Guangdong from further expanding the scope of centralized processing of document business and improving the efficiency of business processing

therefore, the Bank of China in Guangdong applied imaging technology to the document processing operation of the document center last year. The document center was changed into a document image center, and a "document image system" was established

it is understood that the Bank of China in Guangdong is not the only one with a document imaging center. At present, many large banks in the world have applied imaging systems or other similar systems for centralized document business processing, such as HSBC; China Merchants Bank, a domestic bank, also took the lead in applying the above similar systems to centrally process document business

the difference between BOC Guangdong and them is that in addition to the application of high-speed scanning image technology in the front end, it also applies EAI technology in the background and integrates the system of document image center

"EAI is an endless topic"

"the implementation of EAI is completely driven from the perspective of promoting business development." Sun Zhongdong said that Guangdong has a vast territory, with more than 1000 institutions and more than 100 document businesses. Many times, the physical documents rely on manual means to transfer, and those exceeding the authorization also need to go to the upper level for approval. The slow process has a great impact on the business

the document system platform of Bank of China in Guangdong is IBM risc6000, running DB2, WebSphere, MQ, mqsi, mqworkflow and web services. At the same time, the system integrates IBM 400, ibm9000 and eximbills core systems. Another IBM risc6000 is used for storage

"these systems need integration and fast information transmission." After comprehensive consideration, BOC Guangdong introduced IBM WBI infrastructure. "We use WebSphere as the overall architecture of J2EE, and use EAI technology at multiple levels: because of its resin viscosity workflow layer, we follow the document approval process; the coordination layer and information layer connect ibm9000 and ibm400 applications; finally, the interface layer connects swift international messages with foreign banks for clearing."

through the cooperation with IBM, the document image settlement system EAI project of Bank of China in Guangdong was officially launched in August 2003. Now it is applied very well and is being promoted throughout the province. At the same time, the project plays a pilot role in the construction of Bank of China's EAI

"system integration in the banking system is an endless topic. 1. Nano clay is gone. We can use the same architecture and technology to achieve retail loan approval."

in sun Zhongdong's eyes, EAI still has considerable room to play

what can EAI bring

the change of business model of document image center has directly led to the increase of customer satisfaction. It used to take twoorthree days to submit an application and reply, but now it is all handled automatically, which greatly speeds up the operation speed and saves the operation cost

if we count the benefits that EAI brings to BOC Guangdong, sun Zhongdong summarizes the following:

first, it can reduce the cost of it maintenance and development. Previously, most of the similar EAI work of Bank of China in Guangdong needed to write a lot of code to solve it. Now, all the problems of application integration are handed over to the EAI server. Sun Zhongdong believes that "although there are many ways to integrate, the best tool can reduce initial investment and maintenance costs and save time"

the second is to optimize the process. The main purpose of application integration is to enable work to be effectively executed between application systems. The original work may need to be processed by several applications before it can be completed. After the implementation of EAI, the process management between applications can run more reasonably and scientifically

provide new services to improve user satisfaction and income. CRM, call center, customer database, B2C station and business intelligence system are integrated in a fast and low-cost way, which can help enterprises effectively solve problems

accelerate the process of business decision-making. Through EAI, the business intelligence system of Guangdong Bank of China will eventually be connected, so that enterprises can respond quickly when the external or internal environment changes, and accelerate the process of business decision-making

enhance the flexibility and adaptability of enterprises. EAI enables enterprises to more adapt to the development of e-commerce and integration 7 Displacement range: 600mm meets the needs of economy, and can manage transaction activities in real time to view historical transactions

practical experience of Bank of China in Guangdong on the success of the EAI project depends on the coordination and cooperation of organization, people and technology. EAI can be refined into many interfaces. Other products can also be implemented without WBI as EAI. However, considering efficiency and cost, WBI is an effective processing tool to meet these needs

how to select products

1. Enterprise size and leadership of product providers

2. The implementable and operable ability of the product itself

3. Whether the product is suitable for the system of BOC

4. Conduct product evaluation (POC) and conceptual verification

how to prevent EAI project risks

1. It is important to choose a service provider

2. Sufficient and necessary budget, and be prepared to resist risks

3. The management and control of the project should be based on the method of IT project management

4. The business should be in place, and the section chief should participate in the project team full-time

5. High level attention. (end)